SEPT. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Once again the United States has said it is concerned about criminal charges brought against leading members of the former Mikheil Saakashvili government. The current government has charged several members of the previous government with abuse of power.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tension between Georgia’s President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, and its PM, Irakli Garibahvili appeared to bubble to the surface. Mr Margvelashvili accused Mr Garibashvili of thwarting his attempt to speak at the UN by planning his own address at the UN General Assembly. Growing tension between the presidency and the PM is important to monitor.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Although he is no longer Georgia’s PM, Bidzina Ivanishvili is still — probably — the most influential person in Georgian politics.
Mr Ivanishvili put together the Georgian Dream coalition that wrestled full control of Georgian politics from former president Mikheil Saakashvili, first in parliament, then in the presidential palace and then in town halls across the country.
In a rare newspaper interview published on Sept. 15, Mr Ivanishvili underlined his importance to the Georgian political scene by revealing that current PM Irakli Garibashvili had asked for his advice before reshuffling his government cabinet earlier this year.
“Before the government reshuffle, Garibashvili asked for my opinion, but I did not show interest and did not tell him to act this or that way,” Mr Ivanishvili said.
But, despite this apparent disinterest, Mr Ivanishivili is still, clearly, planning on playing a major role in Georgian politics through two major new projects.
“I want to participate in analysing the ongoing processes and to engage in discussions about the Georgian society’s development strategy,” he said.
Georgia has been vocal in its support for Ukraine and its condemnation of Russia’s alleged aid to the separatist forces. Mr Ivanishvili underlined this viewpoint. He was also quick to compare what he described as the measured response of the current government to what he has previously described as the hot-headed responses of the Saakashvili administration.
“God saved us that they [Mr Saakashvili and his United National Movement Party] are no longer in power or else we could have seen Georgia involved in this war” he said.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 14/15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Vatican’s foreign minister, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, visited Georgia for talks with the Georgian leadership and with the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church Patriach Ilia II. Archbishop Mamberti’s trip was the first by a Vatican foreign minister for 11 years. Pope John Paul II visited Georgia in 1999.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 4-5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – NATO took, yet another, tentative step towards admitting Georgia to its club at its conference in Cardiff.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish head of the US-led military group, said that a substantive package had been drawn up to help aspiring members join.
“Each aspirant has work to do in different areas and we will give them support they need,” he said. “We agreed on substantive package of measures for Georgia that will help Georgia advance in its preparations towards membership of NATO.”
This is good news for Georgia, and probably as good as it could realistically have expected. Ukraine is another country that wants to join NATO, as well as Australia, a more easy country for NATO to accept.
The 28-member NATO also agreed to boost Georgia’s military defences.
Georgia fought a brief war with Russia in 2008 and is dealing with two frozen conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The problem for the NATO member states is that they want to show a strong face against Russian aggression in the former Soviet Union but they also want to avoid inheriting a load of problems that could well drag them into somebody else’s war.
All-in-all, the NATO summit probably lived up to expectations from Georgia.
“We will have very important steps taken in regard of NATO standards by the next summit (in Poland in 2016),” said Georgian president Giorgi Margvelashvili.
It remains to be seen if Mr Margvelashvili is being realistic or just optimistic.
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(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)
SEPT. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Chuck Hagel, the US defence secretary, flew into Tbilisi for a high profile visit to pledge support for Georgia and its NATO ambitions. Mr Hagel’s trip was designed as much to send a message to Russia as it was to bolster Georgian morale. He also discussed selling US Blackhawk helicopters to Georgia.
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(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)
SEPT. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Preliminary data from Georgia’s national statistics agency has shown that direct foreign investment measured $415m in the first half of 2014, a drop of nearly 10% from a year earlier. Foreign investment is vital for Georgia and the figures will be seen as negative for the government.
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(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)
SEPT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A French warship docked at the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi for joint-exercises with Georgia forces, another show of support for the country from a NATO member. This is the third visit to Georgia by a French naval ship this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)
AUG. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s authorities are piling pressure on former president Mikheil Saakashvili by asking Interpol to issue a so-called Red Notice for his arrest, media reported. A Red Notice doesn’t force countries to arrest Mr Saakashvili but it pushes his profile to the top of the wanted list.
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(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)
SEPT 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian officials have said that they will ask for NATO membership at its summit in Wales starting on Sept. 4, media reported. Fighting in Ukraine and the expansion of NATO is top of the agenda at the meeting in Wales. Georgia has been pushing for NATO membership for the last few years.
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(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)